Setting the Agenda: How 43 Women Are Changing the World for Women in 2015

You just hit the mentor jackpot!

In celebration of ELLE's thirtieth anniversary in 2015, we're launching our most important initiative yet: a board of 43 female powerhouses who are joining forces to improve the lives of women—that's you!—for the next 30 years. Each month, they'll tackle the issues that matter most to our half of the population. One way to think about it: You just hit the mentor jackpot. Read what ELLE Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers has to say about what's on her Agenda here. Scroll down and click on each image to meet the women who are helping us create The Agenda, and let us know what's on yours for 2015 by emailing theagenda@hearst.com or hashtagging #ELLEAgenda on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
This article appears in the January 2015 issue of ELLE magazine.

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Courtesy of The Subject

Maria Shriver

Journalist and activist, MariaShriver.comAgenda: "I could never pick [just one]. It's like asking which is your favorite child. Social-justice issues—why one out of three women in America ends up on the brink of poverty. The lack of communication in politics. Gender equality—women seeing their own power and men seeing their own compassion. Intellectual disabilities and finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease."
Mission: "What I try to do through my journalism and my work is inform and inspire people to be architects of change in their own lives."
Follow Maria Shriver @mariashriver

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Courtesy of The Subject

Melinda Gates

Cochair and trustee, Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationAgenda: "Systematically confronting gender inequalities wherever they exist. Women and girls are one of the world's biggest assets when it comes to building a healthier, more prosperous future. It's the right thing to do, and it's also the smart thing. Women everywhere in the world need three things to be able to reach their full potential: health, decision-making power, economic opportunities."
Follow Melinda Gates @melindagates

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Courtesy of The Subject

Mellody Hobson

President, Ariel InvestmentsAgenda: "Financial literacy—I especially want to see women and minorities be financially literate. I'd like to see every school in America have programs related to the stock markets and investing at very young ages so it becomes a part of their life, so the nomenclature and language becomes comfortable. I'd like to make the stock market a subject of dinner-table conversation in America."
Follow Mellody Hobson @ArielFunds

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Arianna Huffington

Editor-in-chief and president, The Huffington PostAgenda: "Spreading the message to women that we've all been living under the delusion that burnout is the highway to success."
What's next: "The Third Women's Revolution. We don't just want to be on top of the world; we need to redefine and change the way the world is structured. The world of work was designed by men; it's not working for women—it's not working for men, either."
Reading rec: "Lena Dunham's book. She's such a great role model, as opposed to those that I grew up with—who were busy being perfect."
Follow Arianna Huffington @ariannahuff

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Courtesy of The Subject

Kerry Washington

Actress, ABC's Scandal
Agenda: "People say to me, 'I'm just too busy to think about politics.' But here's the thing: You may not be thinking about politics, but politics is thinking about you. Today there are people trying to take away rights that our mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers fought for: our right to vote, our right to choose, affordable quality education, equal pay, access to health care. We the people can't let that happen."
Follow Kerry Washington @kerrywashington

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Courtesy of The Subject

Tulsi Gabbard

U.S. Representative, HawaiiAgenda: "To get more people involved in the civic responsibility of voting and helping to convey why it's so important to make informed decisions about the leaders we're electing at every level."
Mission: "We need to change the perception of veterans as people who should be pitied. This is a group of incredible people who voluntarily put themselves on the line for all of us. They come with tested leadership ability, have made decisions in high-pressure situations, and are an asset to any organization."
Follow Tulsi Gabbard @TulsiGabbard

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Courtesy of The Subject

Tory Burch

Chairman and co-CEO, Tory BurchAgenda: "Entrepreneurship can be an important path to women's economic empowerment, but it's not easy. I'd like to use this platform to reach women who are interested in starting or growing a business and direct them to resources that can help them achieve their goals, including access to capital. But this is about more than capital. It's about leveling the playing field."
Follow Tory Burch @ToryBurch

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Courtesy of The Subject

Kim Kingsley

COO, PoliticoAgenda: "To offer more professional advice to young women, with a focus on how to have a tough conversation in the workplace and how to support your female colleagues."
Mantra: "Family first."
Proudest moment: Launching Politico's Women Rule event series. "I'd encourage more women to take chances. Men say yes to everything, even if they aren't 100 percent qualified."
Follow Kim Kingsley @kimkingsley

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Courtesy of The Subject

Barbara Bush

CEO and cofounder, Global Health CorpsAgenda: "By 2020 millennials will make up half of the U.S. workforce. We should think about what that means for education now, in terms of people being prepared and people wanting to use their skills for a purpose. I spend every day trying to get young talent working on social-change issues. Global Health Corps is about recruiting leaders at the beginning of their careers."
Follow Barbara Bush @ghcorps

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Courtesy of The Subject

Neera Tanden

President, Center for American ProgressAgenda: "To me, the highest priority would be national paid [parental] leave. It's the area in which the U.S. stands out the most; we're the only developed country that has no paid-leave policy for any parent. The thing that's so striking about it is that the people who have the most support have paid leave, and the people who have the least support have no leave at all."
Follow Neera Tanden @neeratanden

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Courtesy of The Subject

Susan Molinari

Vice president of public policy, GoogleAgenda: "Recruit more girls and young women into STEM fields now!"
Feminism 2015: Her two daughters "are very independent, strong-headed, ambitious females. I'm sure part of that is because the world has changed, but I think also because I'm their mother. The first song I taught my oldest daughter, when she was about three, was 'I Am Woman.' "
Follow Susan Molinari @google

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Courtesy of The Subject

Soledad O'Brien

Journalist, CEO of Starfish Media GroupAgenda: "Financial empowerment, educational empowerment, and self-esteem of women—they're all under the same umbrella."
Resolving conflict: "Balance—that's what everyone's trying to figure out. 'How do I make that happen?' is a conversation going on forever. Young women need guidance from older women who've been through it."
Follow Soledad O'Brien @soledadobrien

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Courtesy of The Subject

Alex Wagner

Host, MSNBC's NOW With Alex WagnerAgenda: Reproductive freedom; poverty and hunger in America.
Race talk: "The way that black women are talked about in this country is different from the way white women are; it's the same with Latino women and Asian women. There's a feeling that white women can't talk about black women, and vice versa. We need to stop that, and start addressing it."
Follow Alex Wagner @alexwagner

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Courtesy of The Subject

Allison Williams

Actress, HBO's Girls
Agenda: To promote "micro-financing in parts of Africa. Everyone is entitled to a life, so anything we can do to make sure that happens—that that little kid who is starving isn't starving; or the kid born HIV-positive is able to live a long, healthy life; or a kid who was born into a low-opportunity environment is able to get a great education."
Mantra: " 'With great power comes great responsibility.'"

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Courtesy of The Subject

Shonda Rhimes

Creator and executive producer, ABC's Grey's Anatomy and Scandal
Agenda: "Find a cause you love. It's okay to pick just one. Devote a slice of your energies toward making the world suck less every week."
Advice: "Ditch the dream and be a doer; you just have to keep moving forward. It doesn't have to fit your vision of the perfect job or the perfect life. Just…do."
Follow Shonda Rhimes @shondarhimes

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Courtesy of The Subject

Maria Cuomo Cole

Chairman, HELP USAAgenda: "Providing assistance for people and families to support themselves economically and independently. That certainly includes issues around pay equality, housing, and violence against women. The number-one cause of homelessness among women and children in the United States is domestic violence. This is a tremendous issue for us. That needs to stop."
Follow Maria Cuomo Cole @MariaCuomoCole

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Courtesy of The Subject

Kathy Savitt

CMO, YahooAgenda: "To explore the difference between mentors and sponsors. Women, in order to overcome the legacy deficit of our progress, need to find sponsors. Sponsors are people that are really going to bang the table for you. They're going to risk their reputation to get you the job, get you the raise, get you in the door. That's a really different ask than, 'Hey, just give me advice.'"
Follow Kathy Savitt @ksavitt

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Courtesy of The Subject

Desiree Gruber

President and CEO, Full PictureAgenda: "To help women understand how to mine their own strengths. And part of the trick to getting women on board is we need women on panels, speaking so that men can see them—it creates authority when you're onstage and have something to say."
Career advice: "Selling and negotiating are skills that you need across the board—everything has an element of sales."
Follow Desiree Gruber @desireegruber

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Courtesy of The Subject

Danika Laszuk

VP of marketing, JawboneAgenda: "Nutrition and childhood obesity—helping kids and the adults who influence them to bridge the knowledge gap. The Alliance for a Healthier Generation is doing amazing work. It's a joint venture between the Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association focused on helping kids, parents, community organizers, and teachers get closer to good food choices."
Follow Danika Laszuk @DanikaDanika

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Courtesy of The Subject

Erin Grody Kingsley

Partner, Andreessen Horowitz

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Courtesy of The Subject

Tracee Ellis Ross

Actress, ABC's Black-ish
Agenda: "My desire for us as women is that we remember our true nature: the fullness, freedom, and power of our womanhood as more than objects of desire. Bringing together a powerful and thoughtful group of women is always a great idea. When our voices are gathered together, we have a collective wisdom that can create monumental change."
Follow Tracee Ellis Ross @TraceeEllisRoss

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Courtesy of The Subject

Libby Leffler

Global influencer partnerships manager, FacebookAgenda: To help more women connect and support one another.
Mantra: "At Facebook, we have posters that say WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WEREN'T AFRAID? splashed—in bright red—across every wall. I love this saying—it's a great reminder for all of us to find ways that we can stretch and challenge ourselves every day."
Follow Libby Leffler on Facebook

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Courtesy of The Subject

Iman

Model, founder and CEO, Iman CosmeticsAgenda: To provide food to needy children. "My favorite organization for now is No Kid Hungry. In this rich country, the poverty is truly shameful, specifically hunger in children. We always talk about how we have to help the rest of the world—and I'm very grateful for that as an African—but charity begins at home. You have to take care of your own first."
Follow Iman @The_Real_IMAN

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Courtesy of The Subject

Deborah Dugan

CEO, (RED)Agenda: "Building a stronger health system for women and girls, and ending mother-to-child transmission of HIV. We must deliver an AIDS-free generation in this lifetime. We will, but we've got work to do to ensure we get there."
What's next: "Everyone's talking about being an entrepreneur now. The question is how to take this generation's entrepreneurial spirit and change the world."
Follow Deborah Dugan @debdugan

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Courtesy of The Subject

Capricia Marshall

Ambassador-in-residence, Atlantic CouncilAgenda: To promote international understanding.
Philanthropic work: "Too Small to Fail, which encourages disadvantaged mothers to increase their verbal interaction with their young children—speaking with them more, reading to them—and the No Ceilings initiative, working on women's rights, in alliance with the Gates Foundation."
Follow Capricia Marshall @AtlanticCouncil

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Courtesy of The Subject

Roxane Gay

Author and culture critic, RoxaneGay.comAgenda: "Intersectionality—that we can't ever think about any of the issues that we're concerned with in isolation. Getting young women to understand what [intersectionality] means and how it looks in action. It's about introducing complexity and nuance into contemporary discourse."
Mantra: "Try to leave the endeavors that I participate in better than I found them."
Follow Roxane Gay @rgay

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Courtesy of The Subject

Jamie Gutfreund

Chief marketing officer, Deep FocusAgenda: "To take the bitch out of business. I don't know one successful woman who has not been referred to as a bitch. The worst offenders are usually women having negative things to say about other women. My goal is to build bridges—and understanding—by forging relationships between smart women of all ages and stages."
Follow Jamie Gutfreund @JamieCentral

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Courtesy of The Subject

Jessica Livingston

Cofounder, Y CombinatorAgenda: "To bring awareness to mainstream America, and especially to women, that starting a start-up is an option. I believe start-ups make the world a better place. That's where technology innovation happens."
Mantra: "Make something people want."
Advice for a 14-year-old girl: "Try programming—not everyone's going to like it, but you might."
Follow Jessica Livingston @foundersatwork

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Courtesy of The Subject

Sylvie Picquet-Damesme

Partner, PR ConsultingAgenda: To support and promote women in the fashion industry. "In our fashion world, even though it's directed toward women, the voices of men [are] louder. Women need more support—there should be more women everywhere!"
Career advice: "Be open to any opportunities. When I had the opportunity [to move to the U.S. from France], I was like, 'Let's try it.' It's been 20 years."
Follow Sylvie Picquet-Damesme @PRConsulting

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Courtesy of The Subject

Stephanie Cutter

Political consultant, partner, Precision StrategiesAgenda: Getting women engaged in politics "because you can actually affect change—you can see the results of your work."
Reading rec: Kirsten Gillibrand's Off the Sidelines. "It's basically like, Don't complain, do something about it."
If you have $500 to spend: "Invest in the next app that gives you more time in a day."
Follow Stephanie Cutter @stefcutter

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